An 11-year-old recounts her story of survival
A girl who survived America's deadliest school shooting in a decade said she lay on top of her classmate's body and smeared the girl's blood on herself to "play dead".
Speaking before a panel of lawmakers on Wednesday 8 June, 11-year-old Miah Cerillo detailed the moments when 19 of her schoolmates and two teachers were killed by an 18-year-old gunman at the Robb Elementary School massacre in Uvalde, Texas on Tuesday 24 May.
“I thought he would come back so I covered myself with blood,” Miah told the panel. “I put it all over me and I just stayed quiet.”
Miah also told American news channel CNN that she and her classmates were watching the film Lilo and Stitch when her two teachers got word there was a shooter in the building.
One went to lock the door, but Miah said the shooter was already there, and he made eye contact with one of the teachers, said, "Goodnight," and then shot her. He then opened fire, shooting the other teacher and many of Miah's friends.
Miah's mother also told CNN that on the morning of the shooting Miah had an earache and she took her to the doctor. On the way back, her mother offered to let Miah skip school the rest of the day since it was one of the last days of classes before the summer break and they were just watching films.
But Miah insisted that she wanted to return to school to see her friends and her mother dropped her back about an hour before the shooting.
Miah was asked what she wanted to see happen in the wake of the attack, and she replied, "To have security. I don't want it to happen again."
Meanwhile, Hollywood actor and Uvalde native Matthew McConaughey spoke at a White House press briefing on Tuesday 7 June after meeting with lawmakers on Capitol Hill about gun reform legislation.
During an emotional speech, he said, "Uvalde Texas is where I was born. It's where my mum taught kindergarten less than a mile from Robb elementary. This time, it seems like something is different.
"It seems there's a viable path forward, a path that can bring us closer together and make us safer as a country. A path that can actually get something done. This time, real change can happen."